Echoes
by temagnifique
Summary: Kagome goes home, and ends up participating in an inevitable conversation with her family about none other than Sesshomaru. I wonder how the demon Lord would react if he heard Kagomes personal description of the gorgeous, cold, killing perfection?


Kagome's mother danced around the kitchen with the broom in her hands. She whistled a tune as she swept up a storm, trying to get the house clean for Kagome's arrival.

The house was quiet with Kagome gone all the time. Souta had school during the days, and while he was at home there was no one to bicker with. Their mother didn't even mind the bickering; in fact, she almost missed it the times when Kagome was gone for more than a week or two.

Life had been hectic ever since her daughter had fallen down the well that fateful night almost two years ago. It was a crazy idea, time travel, and she hadn't believed it until the hanyou himself had shown up at her doorstep.

Kagome had no idea that her mother worried for her every second she was gone.

And she had no clue of the relief she felt when she came back alive, and the devastation and worry all over again when she left.

Without warning, Kagome Higurashi stumbled into the room, leaning onto the kitchen wall for support. Her usually bright eyes were tightly shut, and her mouth was pressed into a thin line, as if she was in pain.

Kagome's mother blinked in surprise and stood, frozen, before her motherly instincts kicked in and she rushed to her daughters' side. The broom fell to the floor, forgotten.

Kagome's eyes snapped opened, alert. She looked dazed and confused for a moment, but her face melted into joy when she saw the face of her mother.

"Mom-" She whispered hoarsely.

"Kagome!" Her mother cried. Her face twisted in worry, in pain for her daughter. Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes found a dark stain on her shirt that could be nothing but dry blood.

_She can't go back. She can't get hurt again. I won't let her risk her life anymore. No child should have to go through this. She can't fight demons, for god's sake, she's just a child. She's my only daughter. I can't lose her. I can't let her go back. She can't go back. She can't. I won't let her. _

It wasn't the first time she had promised herself such things.

Seeing the panic in her mother's eyes, Kagome pulled herself together. "I'm fine," She said, with a voice strong and confident, one that suggested that this was nothing. It made her mother sick to the stomach thinking that she had been through worse.

"I'm fine," She repeated, and her mother's wet brown eyes connected with her own dry blues. Seeing the lack of pain and fear, just the unmistakable calm and an ageless maturity, her mother visibly relaxed. Those years in the feudal era had stolen her innocence, and while she mostly looked and acted like the content, spirited teenager she was, her eyes shone of maturity that one could only acquire from seeing the things she had seen.

The older woman took her daughter into her arms, never wanting to let her go, but knowing that she would have to, as her daughter had clearly found her destiny in the past.

* * *

><p>The wounds weren't as bad as she had presumed.<p>

While Kagome had arrived with only a few minor cuts and bruises and a sprained ankle, the exhaustion had made her condition seem so much worse. After a hot bath and a quick nap, Kagome had limped down the stairs to find her brother, Souta, had just returned from school.

"Oh, hey Kagome! I thought you weren't coming home 'till tomorrow!" Out of habit, the eleven year olds eyes scanned the room, looking for the hanyou who had somehow become his idol. "S'Inuyasha here?"

She rolled her eyes. Of course her brother would be looking for Inuyasha, not even bothering to ask how his beloved sister was. Limping to the living room, she propped a pillow on one end of the couch and rested her foot, which her mother had bandaged up, on it.

"No, Souta, he didn't come. He'll probably be here soon, though, if I don't go back in a few days. He's just giving me some time to heal my foot in this time, since it'll probably get better quicker here." Kagome huffed.

Souta looked at her foot, noticing her injury for the first time, and his eyes showed next to no concern. Kagome narrowed her eyes in annoyance. Of course he would be too preoccupied with the stupid half-demon to care about his sisters' well-being. She took a moment of self-pity as she wondered why she ever missed him while she was away.

"Oh, that sucks, sis. What happened?" His eyes sparkled with sudden interest, and she had a feeling there was no getting out of this one with a simple 'I fell'.

Kagome's mother entered the room with a cup of steaming tea in her hands. She set it on the table next to Kagome. "I thought I heard you in here, Kagome, so I prepared this for you."

Kagome murmured a thank you and jumped when she heard a squeaky voice from behind her.

"Oh, you're up Kagome!" Her grandfather yelled. He seemed not to have an inside voice. "I just found these extremely powerful charms in the storage house! These will definitely help you on your journeys!" He said, holding up a handful of useless looking rocks. "Throw them at the enemy and BAM-" He yelled, throwing his arms up in exaggeration. "You must take these with you-"

"Hey mom, Kagome was just about to tell us what happened to her-"

"Is that right-"

"Oh please tell us Kagome! You never tell us much of your adventures-"

Kagome groaned, pressing her fingers to her temples. Her family never pressed the subject too hard, but she mostly liked to keep them as in the dark as possible about her life in the past. She did tell them most things, but she never liked to get into details about the battles and the kills and the downsides of the feudal era.

"_Alright!_" She yelled in frustration. Her family was quiet at once.

"Have I ever told you about Inuyasha's brother?" She started, looking from one pair of eyes to the next.

"Inuyasha has a_ brother_?" Souta asked a little too excitedly. That answered _that_ question. Her mother and her grandfather both shook their heads solemnly.

"Half-brother, actually. Don't ever let him catch you calling him his brother, or you'll get it from him." She clarified, ignoring the confused looks from the three who were now sitting in the couch parallel to hers.

"Well, his name's Sesshomaru. They have the same father; the great demon lord of the West, who was once considered one of the strongest demons_ alive_." Kagome, who was now getting comfortable and felt like a mother telling her children a bedtime story, watched their reactions morph into something like awe.

"Their mothers couldn't be any different, though," She continued, telling them only what she knew from various people. "Sesshomaru was born first, to two powerful dog demons as a mother and father. He was following in his father's footsteps, preparing to become the lord of the West when a couple centuries later, Inutaisho, his father, fell in love with a human princess."

Souta, Grandpa and Mother were now all three leaning towards Kagome unconsciously, immersed in the story of the brothers that shared the same blood but who couldn't detest one another more.

"That princess, Izaioy, was Inuyasha's mother. Sesshomaru, who had grown to be a very powerful and feared youkai among Japan, had a reputation for being a cold and ruthless killer who hated nothing more than humans. So, naturally, he practically disowned his father for mating with one and hated Inuyasha for tainting the blood line." She gritted her teeth as she said the last part. It made her blood boil to think of the prejudice, and just plain stupidity of the whole situation. They're brothers, for goodness sakes. And it wasn't like it was Inuyasha's fault for being born of a youkai and a human. Her heart went out to him as she thought of the poor half-demon, being an outcast to not only the demons, but to the humans too when he was a child. It didn't make any sense. There were plenty of multi-racial people in her time. And besides, she loved him just the way he was.

She shook her head softly and continued. "Inuyasha's father died protecting him shortly after he was born, and of course, Sesshomaru holds him responsible for his death. Inuyasha grew up with his mother, but she died when he was just a child, also killed protecting him from the villagers. You see, half-demons aren't accepted as human or demon. It's so hard for him, not being accepted anywhere." She said sadly. She wished she could make him happy. She accepted him. Wasn't that enough?

"So Sesshomaru and Inuyasha hate each other, and are _always_ trying to kill each other. It's really quite annoying sometimes," She laughed, trying to lighten up the mood. "He's such a strong demon, and it would be so helpful if we could have him on our side to defeat Naraku. But every time I mention getting over their differences," She threw her hands up. "_No_, it's the end of the world!"

Souta's jaw dropped. "They try to _kill_ each other?" He seemed to find the idea fascinating.

Kagome stuttered nervously. Maybe she had said too much. Maybe she should have left the killing part out, since taking another person's life was not taken so lightly in the present than it was in the past.

"Well, yeah," She said slowly. "Anyway, that is how _this_ happened." She jerked her head in the direction of her foot.

"For him, this is barely a scratch." She reassured, wincing at how bad it sounded. "Sesshomaru has been known to kill a human just for _looking _at him. He and Inuyasha were fighting again, and when the swords were drawn, I couldn't help but get in the middle of things…" She looked down, remembering how Inuyasha had yelled at her after Sesshomaru had left.

_You could've gotten killed! What were you thinking! _She remembered the haunted look in his eyes at the thought of losing her when he took her in his arms.

_It's a miracle he didn't rip you to shreds on the spot. I-I don't know what I would've done with myself if I couldn't save you…_

She had seen how things were getting between the two and on impulse, she had jumped right in the middle of the two brothers. Sesshomaru had tossed her aside like a rag doll, which resulted in a few scratches and a sprained ankle. She was even more shocked as she watched him turn away after declaring that this was a waste of his time, and he had better things to do.

Kagome's mother gasped. "Inuyasha's brother _did this to you_?"

"Half-brother" She corrected out of habit.

Kagome watched as her mother fumed and barely caught the rocks that her grandfather tossed to her.

"Take these charms for next time. The will for sure protect you from that _Sesshomaru_!"

"Does he _look_ like Inuyasha?" Souta inquired curiously.

Kagome paused. The two brothers did have _some_ similarities, but not many.

"Sesshomaru's taller. _Much_ taller." She said finally.

"They have the same hair. And the same golden eyes. Same pale skin, too. But… Sesshomaru looks older, more like in his early twenties than a teenager like Inuyasha. Not that it matters, they're both centuries old." She said, though it seemed she was talking more to herself than to her family.

"And there are his markings… He's got this _wicked_ looking moon on his forehead, and these purple stripes underneath his eyes," She traced her fingers underneath her own, demonstrating.

Kagome's grandfather scoffed. "Stripes? Please, he can't be that intimidating. And a moon? What is he, a werewolf?"

Kagome shook her head. "Oh no, gramps. One look in his eyes and you're a goner. He's so calm and collected, it's… Eerie." She shuddered.

"Even when he fights, he shows no emotion, or weakness. Even when Inuyasha cut his arm off, he was still so… I don't know. He just acted like he didn't care. He doesn't let anything affect him."

She ignored the questions she got about the last bit about the arm.

"Oh, and he's got ears… Like normal ears. Well, not normal, I guess. There pointy. Like elf ears." She giggled, a mental picture of Sesshomaru wrapping presents in Santa's factory taking place in her mind.

"And he wears this huge white fluffy thing over his shoulder. I've always wondered what it was… But it looks really soft!"

Kagome hadn't noticed that Souta had left the room and returned with a piece of paper and a few crayons. She continued, oblivious.

"And he's got these really cute fangs, just like Inuyasha's!" She exclaimed. Now the four of them were chuckling at the odd description of Inuyasha's supposedly evil half-brother.

Kagome sipped her tea as Souta held up the paper he had been colouring on. "Does he look like this!" He asked.

Kagome choked on her tea, spewing the liquid all over the couch. She clutched her stomach as she wheezed out laughter. Pretty soon the whole room was booming with laughter from all four family members.

Just then, a familiar figure in a bright red kimono walked casually into the room.

"Hey, what's going on in here? Is your foot healed yet?" The hanyou asked, sounding irritated. He looked around the room, confused.

"_Hey,"_ He said a little bit louder, his eyes narrowing. He looked at Kagome, alarmed, as he saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"Hey, why are you crying?" His hand hovered over the hilt of his sword out of habit, looking for any immediate danger.

The miko just clutched her stomach with one hand and pointed at the drawing with the other. Plucking the picture out of Soutas hands, she showed it to Inuyasha.

He stared blankly at the strange drawing in her hands. Slowly, he figured this ridiculous picture must have been the source of laughter that had strangely bewitched the Higurashi family. He crossed his arms.

"What is _that_ supposed to be?" He spat finally, which only made the four laugh harder.

"_Sesshomaru!"_ Kagome squeaked breathlessly. The family quieted down a little, waiting for the hanyou's reaction.

They all watched as Inuyashas golden orbs held confusion, recognition, disbelief, amusement, and finished off with a hint of evil. He started laughing as he snatched the paper from Kagome's hands, ignoring her as he shoved it into his haori.

"Looks exactly like him," He said, that evil glint still in his eyes. "I wonder what the bastard's gonna say when I show him this"

"You wouldn't!"

"Watch me!"

Laughter filled the room once again as they all found the demon lords supposed appearance hilarious, and they didn't know that some five hundred years ago, Sesshomaru could've sworn he heard the echoes of laughter inspired by none other than himself.


End file.
